Directors

The directors of the Deeptech Innovation Academy bring hands-on experience and passion for creating the program’s overall learning experience for the teams involved. They work closely with the mentors.

  • Top 50 Women Leaders of Education (2023, 2024, 2025)

  • University Lecturer, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden

  • Distinguished Global Professor of Radical Innovation, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico

  • Coauthor of the award-winning Building Moonshots and the Playbook for Strategic Foresight and Innovation

Linley Lord, DBA

  • Academic Lead of University Transformation — Resources Technology and Critical Minerals Trailblazer, Curtin University

  • Previously Associate Deputy Vice Chancellor Global at Curtin University and Pro Vice Chancellor and President of Curtin Singapore

Mentors

The full academy name is the Deeptech Innovation Academy for Mentorship, Outreach, Networking, and Development (or DIAMOND for short 💎), which addresses the full scope needed to turn lab ideas into tech startups. The M in DIAMOND is all about mentorship from experienced operators, those who have hands-on experience in building a startup or company function — including understanding the specific needs and nuances that deep tech innovation requires.

Craig Litherland, JD

Intellectual Property
Silicon Valley, USA

  • Head of Intellectual Property at Mainspring Energy, which is a new breed of clean electric generator that replaces diesel as backup power for data centers

William Cockayne, PhD

Business Models
Stockholm, Sweden

  • Serial inventor and innovator

  • Previously award-winning lecturer of strategic foresight at Stanford University

  • Coauthor of the award-winning Building Moonshots and the Playbook for Strategic Foresight and Innovation

Zac Farrow

Startup Operations
Perth, Australia

  • Cofounder of Omni Biotech, a wearable health tech startup targeted to frontline workers

Julia Wagner, PhD

Startup Financing & Investing
Zurich, Switzerland

  • Cofounder of a biotech startup and ETH spinout

  • Recent investor at Positron Ventures, funding moonshot teams for (planetary) health

  • Founding partner of S2S Ventures, a student-run Swiss venture fund

  • Member of European Women in VC

Tim Paciolla

Product Strategy & Development
Sydney, Australia

  • Chief Product Officer at Innowell, a startup focused on mental health solutions

  • Previously Head of Design at global software company Atlassian, Creative Director at global design agency frog, and product-related roles at Yahoo! and Apple